Orlando's arrogant toll leaders should heed Ashton's advice

If a prosecutor told me he was investigating me, I would probably soil myself.

Yeah, I know I come across as brash and confident. Still, the idea of being the subject of a state probe would give me the full-on willies.

Frankly, I think that's a normal reaction. Most of us would be humiliated.

Unfortunately, normal people don't run the Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority. And it is beginning to appear that no threat — even a state investigation — will stop their brazen and arrogant schemes.

Today, we will learn whether the authority — which collected $276 million in tolls last year — defies State Attorney Jeff Ashton and finalizes a deal to hire an unqualified state legislator to run the agency.

Bet ya a shiny toll quarter they do.

So far, nothing has deterred them. Not common sense. Not public outcry. Not even the fact that the board knew it was being probed by Casey Anthony's prosecutor.

So I won't be surprised to see these folks flip Ashton the proverbial bird and defy his orders, so they can start paying former Rep. Steve Precourt $185,000 a year.

Precourt's acting like it's a fait accompli.

Even though he is not yet on the authority payroll, he already has moved in, roaming the halls and "acting as the de-facto director," according to Saturday's Sentinel.

He even released a statement saying, "...we have important and time sensitive work to do here at the Expressway Authority."

Notice the use of the first-person pronoun —"we" being the authority at which Precourt is not yet paid to work.

It's getting to be like a Seinfeld episode over there. George, Kramer and Steve all showing up at jobs they don't actually hold, hoping no one will notice.

I half-expect Precourt to pull a Costanza and sit behind the dais with the board members at today's board meeting.

The foolishness is nothing new. This agency has been mired in muck for years — and costing local commuters plenty.

In 2004, public records went missing. In 2007, a grand jury detailed what it called "a culture of corruption." In 2009, Comptroller Martha Haynie said the expressway was involved in "risky," potentially costly bond deals peddled by bond salesmen with cozy relationships with the authority.

Finally, last year, the authority had a new director, Max Crumit, who cleaned this up. Crumit ousted the folks responsible for the bad bond deals and started beefing up the agency's transparency.

This would never do. Three board members who answer to Gov. Rick Scott — civil engineer Scott Batterson, Florida Hospital strategist Marcos Pena and district transportation secretary Noranne Downs — helped oust Crumit just a few weeks after he received a stellar job review.

The ousting seemed so coordinated (Crumit said Batterson warned him he had the votes to oust him) that Ashton is investigating potential violations of the state's "Sunshine" laws.

And now Ashton is asking the board to delay hiring Precourt, saying he has "reasonable suspicion" that the law was broken. He may involve another grand jury.

The board should listen.

Some authority officials worry they don't have the right to block the hiring, since the board already voted to make Precourt their leader, saying the only outstanding issue was his salary and benefits.

Hogwash. This is an at-will work state. You can hire and fire for most any reason you want. And if you need "cause" to delay hiring, Ashton just provided it with an explicit request.

If the board does barrel ahead, Precourt's proposed contract needs serious amending. Right now, it includes a generous severance package — guaranteeing Precourt $46,000 in walking-away money — if the board later fires him "at will."

Including such a thing is ridiculous for a man who didn't meet the agency's own written requirements for the job — and whom the state attorney said the board should not yet hire.

Ashton said "the public has a right to know" what went down with the ousting of the old director before hiring a new one. And he's exactly right.